


Padfoot Returns

by little0bird



Series: Dog Star Rising [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter), Second War with Voldemort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 07:06:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18615622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little0bird/pseuds/little0bird





	Padfoot Returns

Sirius stood on the landing and drank in the still-familiar scents. The boiled potatoes and cabbage from 4F. Furniture polish and artificial floral-scented cleanser from 3A. They hadn't changed in over fourteen years. He slowly climbed the stairs. 5B. Hid old flat. The one he'd bought with some of the gold his uncle Alphard had left him and shared with Remus when they left school. Sirius closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.  _Paper. Buttered toast. Chocolate. No… Melted chocolate._ A reluctant grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. He could only detect those subtle aromas because he'd spent the bulk of the last year living as a dog. By next week, he wouldn't be able to pick the smell of a well-read book out of all the other competing scents.

He lifted a hand and lightly knocked on the door, feeling only slightly foolish. It was technically his flat, but in all fairness, he hadn't lived there since his arrest. The doorknob glowed faintly red and the door opened a mere crack. 'Moony,' Sirius rasped.

The door opened wider. Remus stood in the dim light, his wand in one hand, and a book dangling from the fingers of his other one. 'It's happened, hasn't, it?' Remus asked, as conversationally as if he'd asked Sirius if he wanted milk in his tea.

Sirius nodded. Remus always knew, without people having to tell him things. 'Dumbledore sent me to gather the old gang. What's left of it anyway.' He could feel himself sway slightly. He hadn't eaten for several hours, unable to swallow due to his anxiety over Harry and the Triwizard Tournament. Nor had he slept. Remus set the book down and reached through the door, grasping Sirius by the wrist. Remus dragged him into the flat and closed the door, casually jabbing his wand at it. 'It can wait until morning,' Remus murmured. 'You look done in.'

'You could say that,' Sirius said quietly. He stood uncertainly, shifting uneasily from foot to foot, painfully aware of the dirt and grime embedded in his skin and clothes.

Remus motioned toward the bathroom. 'Go and have a shower. You'll feel better. I might consider giving you some chocolate afterward.'

Sirius plucked at his ragged clothing. 'And wear what after?'

Remus perched on the arm of the sofa and crossed his arms over his chest. 'I packed all your things away after you were sent to Azkaban. Never had the heart to dispose of them. I'll fetch them up from the basement while you're in the shower.' Remus gave Sirius a gentle shove toward the bathroom. 'Go on.'

Sirius prodded the sofa. 'Is this as uncomfortable to sleep on as it was fifteen years ago?'

Remus snorted. 'Yes. Last time I fell asleep on it, I could barely walk for two days.'

'When was that?'

'Last Tuesday.' Remus pointed to the bathroom. 'Go. Shower. I'll bring up your things and make up the bed in your old bedroom.'

'The sofa is fine,' Sirius insisted. 'I probably won't be here long enough to justify making the bed,' he argued. He swallowed, forcing down the image of one of the last times he'd slept in that bed.

'Nonsense,' Remus said. Sirius squirmed under his friend's unrelenting gaze. 'When was the last time you slept in a real bed?'

'October,' Sirius muttered.

Remus shoved him lightly toward the bathroom. 'Have a wash, and when you're finished, you can put on something clean and have a nice cuppa.' He slipped out of the door of the flat, wand held lightly in his fingers.

Sirius shuffled into the bathroom, and twisted the taps in the bath, testing the temperature of the water with a hand, making it as hot as he could stand. He stripped, tossing his clothes into a corner and stepped into the bath.

He stood under the scalding spray for several long moments, reveling in the sensation of hot water sluicing over his skin. Sirius reached for the clean face cloth draped over the towel bar and generously lathered it. He scrubbed at the grime that seemed to be ingrained in his skin, even resorting to sitting on the floor of the tub to scour the soles of his feet. Washing his hair was yet another ordeal. He managed to finger-comb the worst of the tangles from his hair, then work the shampoo through it. Sirius had no idea how long he was in the shower, but his hands had gone wrinkly.

Sirius shut off the water and shoved the curtain aside. Two towels balanced on the edge of the sink. He roughly dried himself, and wrapped a towel around his waist, using the other to dry his hair. Sirius padded to the bedroom he'd once called his own, and paused on the threshold. True to his word, Remus had neatly made the bed, and Sirius' old school trunk sat in the corner of the room.

As Sirius drifted to the trunk, he trailed a hand over the footboard, hearing Gideon laughingly complain that the bed was much too small, before wrapping his arms around Sirius, spooning him. Sirius shook his head to dispel the wisp of memory as he flipped open the lid of his trunk. The clothing was on the older side, but Remus had packed them well. No damage from moths that he could see. Sirius grabbed a faded t-shirt and experimentally sniffed it. It smelled relatively clean, with no trace of mildew or something equally malodorous. Reaching in a bit further, he unearthed a pair of pants and an only somewhat ratty pair of pajama bottoms. 'Sorry there isn't anything a bit more stylish,' Remus remarked, as he peered around the doorframe. 'You were always a rather flamboyant dresser.'

Sirius shrugged and dropped the towel around his waist, reaching for the pants. 'It doesn't have holes or stink like Azkaban,' he said with an attempt at levity. As he donned each item of clothing, he felt a little more of the past several months falling away. 'Is there a comb in the trunk?'

Remus replied by tossing an object across the room, that Sirius snatched from mid-air. It proved to be the wooden comb he'd used in school. 'I can give you a trim later,' he offered. Sirius nodded and began to work the comb through his damp hair. 'I'll get some tea ready and you can fill me in on what's happened. I imagine there's work to do, if Dumbledore wants to reinstate the Order.'

'You could say that.' Sirius dug deeper into the trunk, his hand brushing against a bundle of knobbly wool and froze.  _Not now_ , he told himself fiercely at the sudden prickle of tears and found a pair of socks. He drew them over his feet, then padded to the kitchen table. He took the chair Remus indicated, reaching for the steaming mug of tea, bringing it to his mouth with both hands. Remus had been generous with the sugar, and Sirius was grateful for the sweet warmth of the tea. It made the next thing he said somewhat easier to bear. 'We'll have to go to Grimmauld Place.'

Remus paused, a butter knife suspended over a stack of toast. 'Surely not.'

'It's perfect,' Sirius said miserably. 'Muggle-Repelling charms, Unplottable. Every damn charm known to wizardkind. The Order can operate safely there.'

'But what about you?' Remus inquired, handing a plate of toast to Sirius.

'I'll be fine,' Sirius said with more conviction than he felt.

'We don't even have to suggest it,' Remus argued.

'We do,' Sirius insisted. 'Any issues I might have about my childhood home are irrelevant. The greater good and all that tosh.' He shrugged, taking a bite of toast. 'Besides,' he continued once he'd swallowed it, 'Harry can come live with me there. And when my name is cleared, we'll live somewhere else. The Lake District, perhaps…' Sirius trailed off, munching his toast, lost in thought.

'If you'll just allow me…' Remus indicated the towel in one hand and the scissors in the other. Sirius dropped his toast and pushed his chair back. Remus wrapped the towel around Sirius's shoulders and drew a comb through Sirius' damp hair. 'How short would you like it?'

'Here.' Sirius slashed a hand in the air just over his shoulders.

Remus made quick work of Sirius' hair, Vanishing the grey-streaked locks scattered over the floor. 'And now, I think it's high time we both went to bed. 'It's going to be a long day tomorrow.' Sirius drained the tea in his mug and got to his feet, trailing after Remus.

Remus paused at the threshold of Sirius' bedroom. 'Sleep well, old friend,' he said, slapping Sirius on the shoulder.

'And you as well.' Sirius waited until Remus had gone and closed the door. He pawed through the trunk, until he found the bundle of wool. He froze momentarily, then slowly drew out a dark blue jumper, quite at odds with the style of the other clothes in the trunk. Sirius pressed it to his face, his hands trembling. He fancied he could still smell the aroma of Gideon's bay rum soap in the fibers. Sirius sank to the edge of the bed, clutching it to his chest. He quite clearly remembered pulling it over Gideon's head, and flinging it to the floor. Gideon reluctantly sliding from the warmth of Sirius' bed, smoothing the tumbled hair from Sirius' eyes, a soft kiss. A half-hearted, fumbling search for the jumper in the gloaming of dawn before Gideon gave up. A murmured admonition to find the bloody thing, please - it was his newest Christmas jumper from Molly. She'd go spare if something happened to it.

He'd died just a few hours later, brutally attacked by five Death Eaters.

Sirius could never bring himself to return the jumper to Molly.


End file.
